


birds of a feather fly fly away (but not together)

by sunkelles



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, I'll save your life but I'll be smug about it, Pre-Canon, This is not fun sibling bonding, this is RESENTMENT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27570856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: After a three year old Yang breaks her arm, Qrow runs away and drinks himself into what could have been an early grave. Raven thinks maybe she should have let him stay there.Or: Qrow has been running away since the day he was born, so Raven doesn't think he has any right to criticize her for starting now.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen & Raven Branwen
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	birds of a feather fly fly away (but not together)

**Author's Note:**

> i really don't know what this is? i was just thinking about how raven can literally portal to everyone that she loves whenever she wants and she... doesn't do that? and being frustrated and thinking about qrow isolating and that textpost about baby raven chasing qrow down when he tries to runaway from home and that other text post about curse and curse's sister so now we have angsty branwen twins. 
> 
> they are NOT happy birbs, y'all. not happy birbs

Raven’s semblance can be a bit… frustrating. Sure, there’s something comforting about being able to portal to her "loved" ones whenever she needs, but there’s also something suffocating about that. Especially when sensing their level of danger is just background noise in the back of her mind. 

It’s normally just background noise, but when her people are in danger- it always sounds like high pitched screaming engulfing her brain. She spent so much of her life portaling to Qrow to drag him back from yet another attempt to run away, and later so much time portaling across the battlefield to defend him or Tai or Summer from an ill-placed blow that might have been their last. 

She’s just… tired. Qrow’s always going to be unlucky and self-destructive. She and Tai will always fight against each other, Summer will always fight For the Greater Good ™ above everything else, and Raven will always look down at that baby she brought into the world and wonder why she even bothered. The world is always going to suck, right? 

And now she knows that the Grim have a queen- someone who’s controlling them and making sure they keep coming and coming and that they’ll keep coming that way until long after she’s dead because that bitch can’t be defeated. None of them are ever going to make a dent in this war. 

Ozpin will keep throwing paper soldiers into Salem’s fire and she’ll keep burning them to a crisp. Why would Raven keep wasting her life on something so pointless? 

Qrow isolates- Summer self-sacrifices, and Tai jokes. Raven has always thrown herself into everything head first, but what’s the point? Fighting an uphill battle with no hope of reward isn’t worth it in the end. 

So. Back to her roots she goes. Home sweet bandit clan- just like their folks had wanted when they shipped her and Qrow off to Beacon years ago. With her huntress training, she deposes her parents as leader quickly enough, boots them out, and takes the clan for herself. She gets comfy in the leadership role she was never able to acquire at Beacon. Oz was right about one thing: Summer _was_ better at herding their team of cats than Raven was. She was also more likely to stick around. 

Now Summer has a baby of her own- some little brat named Ruby who looks exactly like her. Yang’s in her terrible twos and Raven’s glad that she’s shed the responsibility of dealing with that. And no, stalking her on occasion to watch from the shadows is not the same thing. Or weird. Shut up. 

Though Raven sometimes spies on Yang, she wasn't doing that when her "Qrow Is Gonna Kill Himself" senses start tingling. She sighs. She tries to ignore it.

When that doesn't work, she pulls up a portal and steps through it to find Qrow lying alone in the woods... in a puddle of vomit. He's coughing, and yeah. He might actually drown. Raven groans as she grabs him and portals him back to the pub near Tai and Summer's house. Just the bathroom, though. She shoves his head in the toilet and lets him cough the chunks out. Then she lets go of his head and he collapses onto the floor. Raven might feel bad about letting his head hit the floor if she cared more. Some of the puke juice from his mouth comes off on the tile. 

Raven clicks the lock to make sure that no one walks in on them, and then takes out her scroll. She's going to at least wait for him to wake up; she needs to hold saving him over his head after all. It takes two hours, and after having to explain that she has VERY BAD DIARRHEA to the pub owner who keeps knocking on the door to let other customers in, she's starting to regret saving his life in the first place. At least he wakes up then. He starts pushing himself up off of the nasty, white tile floor. Then he falls down because he's still so drunk. 

Raven chuckles. "About time you woke up.

“Where am I?” he slurs. trying to push himself up again.

“That pub by Tai and Summer's,” she says. Qrow’s eyes narrow, and he turns groggily to the sound of her voice. 

"Why?" 

Raven shrugs. "I wasn't taking you to _my_ house." 

"And why did you take me _anywhere_?" he demands, like he doesn't remember coughing up a storm in a puddle of his own puke. Honestly, knowing him, he probably doesn't. 

“Had to save your ass.” Qrow bites his lip and looks like he's considering saying something. Then, he doesn't. Instead, he tries to push himself up again. When it doesn't work, he just lays his head back down and closes his eyes. Raven lifts his chin up with her boot. 

"Wake up, idiot," she says. He opens his eyes to glare at her, which is good enough for her.

“What caused this?” she demands. Raven doesn’t want to care. She doesn’t doesn’t want to care whether Qrow’s alive at all, but she’s never been particularly good at turning off her emotions, even when she tries. She left Tai and Summer months ago, but she’s still stalking Yang as she toddles around the yard. Raven's never been as good at giving things up as she’d like to be.

Qrow just closes his eyes again and lies his head down on the carpet. Raven grabs him by the hair and flips him over onto his stomach. He growls as he grabs at his hair and claws her hands out of it. She lets go. That doesn't stop her from glaring down at him.

"What. Caused. This."

Qrow's face turns red, and he looks away. 

"I saved your life. The least I deserve is an answer."

Qrow doesn't look at her. His voice is small as he says, “Yang broke her arm.” It takes her a moment to recognize what he means. Then she just- it's too _ridiculous_. Qrow is here drinking himself to death... because he thinks it's his fault a _toddler broke her arm_?

Raven cackles. “You’re pathetic.” His look sours again as he meets her eyes, which only makes her laugh harder. 

“Pathetic!” she crows, "you almost killed yourself because the kid broke her arm? That's what kids do, idiot."

"It was my fault," he growls. Raven rolls her eyes. Qrow can blame himself for every little thing that goes wrong within a mile of him. Is it his semblance sometimes? Sure. Is it always? No fucking way. He's the most self-centered person that she's ever met, and Raven's met a lot of them. She was raised by narcissists and trained at a huntsman academy; she's well studied in self-centered assholes.

"Uh huh," Raven says, tilting her head mockingly, "you run away because you _hurt_ people. Afraid little Yang'll break a nail next? That's why you're never gonna see her again?" Qrow might not stay away forever, but judging by how bad this bender was... he's going to be gone for months. The kid will either have a complex by the time he gets back or will have forgotten who he is. Really helping her form strong relationships there, Uncle Qrow.

“At least I have a reason!” his red eyes are wet with tears. Isn’t _that_ pathetic? Baby brother can’t even control his facial leaks. He pushes himself to his feet. He sways and wobbles, but he's able to plant his feet firmly enough that he doesn't quite fall down. He goes through all that effort just to point an accusing finger right in her face.

“If I could, I would spend every moment with that kid,” he says, staggering to the side again, “and you- you _could_ , but you walk out on her?” Then he promptly falls over. It's hours since she found him drop dead vomiting, and he's still drunk enough to _fall over_?

Raven just rolls her eyes at his crumpled body. "Pathetic.

Qrow's look and voice are both icy cold. “No. _You’re_ pathetic." That should hurt less from a man who’s literally pushing himself up on his hand to point at her and tilting his head, “little Raven’s scared, so she’ll just fly away.” A montage flashes though her mind of all the times that Qrow tried to run away and she had to portal to him and _drag him back_ (age 3, age 6, age 7 8 9 10 11 ect fucking cetera) and Raven doesn’t feel anything but a flare of rage in her chest. 

“Like you have any room to criticize. You’ve been running away since we were toddlers,” Raven hisses. 

“Bad luck doesn’t stick around after I leave,” he says, bitterness dripping from his words.

"Maybe the bad luck comes _because_ you leave," she says. It's been a long time since Raven stopped chasing Qrow, but there were times as a child... she thought that he'd leave her all alone. Dealing with a bit of bad luck was always better than dealing with the absence of Qrow, but she never managed to get that through his thick head.

It shouldn't matter anymore, though. It's been a long time since they were just "curse and curse's sister" after all. He doesn't owe her his presence, but she doesn't owe that to anyone else either: Tai, Summer, Yang, and _Ruby_ included.

“I don’t owe them anything,” Raven says. Tai and Summer have made it quite clear that they don't want to share custody with her as a bandit queen. If they want to raise those kids without her- fine by her. Ruby's not her problem, and Yang’ll turn out strong. If she wants to come home someday, there’ll be room for her in the clan. It'll be an option that's available, and it's not like Yang _needs_ her. Raven’s never _needed_ anyone; her daughter shouldn't either. 

Qrow shakes his head so fast back and forth she wonders if he's going to make himself puke again. “If I had your powers… I would never let anyone hurt them. Ever.” Qrow would probably use her powers to hover over those girls like a concerned mother duck. Whereas if she had his powers? Her life wouldn’t change all that much. 

It’s not like she’d take his semblance from him, but she’s pretty sure she wouldn’t be such a little bitch about it if she had it. Raven would be able to use something like that to her advantage. 

Then he wouldn’t be such a dick about her choosing not to interact with people, and he’d be able to chase after people like a pathetic puppy dog to his stupid little heart’s content. She doesn’t say any of that, though. Raven doesn’t want to let him know she put that much thought or compassion into her thoughts about him. He only deserves to know about her rage and contempt.

“Next time I might let you drown in your vomit,” Raven says. It’s harsh, but that’s what Raven is: bandit sharp and tired of trying. She might still watch over this asshole, but she’s not about to _save_ him. If he’s going to criticize her for running away, she might as well let him dig his own grave. It’s not like they won’t end up side by side eventually. 

She turns around and ignites her portal. It materializes in a blaze of red.

“You can still make this right,” he says, sitting up on his high horse the way that he always has. Raven doesn’t respond; she doesn’t even turn around. Instead, Raven steps into the distortion and lets the red overwhelm her vision. The color that greets her is not an angry red- just a familiar red, like blood, like their eyes, like home. 

Home sweet bandit clan. If you can’t beat the Grimm, well, you might as well join back up with what you were running from first. Take control of your demons so they don't control you and all that. Raven's always been a practical woman, after all. It's hard not to be after all she's been through.

**Author's Note:**

> curse and curse's sister textpost https://aspiringwarriorlibrarian.tumblr.com/post/632962504882094081/if-qrows-being-truthful-about-being-named-after


End file.
